Andy Murray's triumph at the US Open is the perfect postscript to an amazing sporting summer

The emotion was one of joy unconfined. At Wimbledon he had looked distraught,
and after his Olympic final he simply appeared overwhelmed, but in the glow
of his maiden grand slam glory last night at Flushing Meadows Andy Murray
was consumed with the purest delight.

It was mingled, of course, with relief, for no one had worried more or striven harder to surmount this most formidable hurdle.

Finally, Murray has crossed the Rubicon line. Finally, after four wrenching defeats in slam finals, he has claimed the prize he coveted above all others.

The scale of the achievement, as Murray became Britain’s first slam champion for 76 years, should not be underestimated – and nor should the determination it required for him to break this breakthrough.

So great was the spectre cast by the deeds of Fred Perry in another age that he had to summon up prodigious strength of mind to end, decisively, the mention of that name.

When the time comes to dispense awards like confetti upon the British sporting heroes of 2012, Bradley Wiggins and Mo Farah might find that they have company.

For Murray’s coronation in New York has delivered the most beautiful postscript not just to the nation’s summer of love, but to his own. A period of nine weeks in which he has reached a Wimbledon final, taken gold at a home Olympics and, at last, fulfilled his lifetime’s ambition of a slam signifies a spell of sustained brilliance to stand comparison with any.

Most importantly, this seismic victory can enable Murray to flourish into the world-beating force he has always had the potential to be.

For coach Ivan Lendl, the misery of losing his first four slam finals on the bounce gave way, ultimately, to status as one of this sport’s greats. Lendl and Murray, master and apprentice, were the only two men in the Open era to have been defeated in four finals before winning. The protégé, mercifully, has avoided the unenviable distinction of being the sole player ever to have lost his first five.

Lendl discovered that his belated triumph on the grand slam stage, beating John McEnroe in five sets in the 1984 French Open final, allowed him to build a dynasty of his own.

He retired in 1994 with eight slam championships on his CV and there is no reason to believe that his pupil is not capable of doing the same. For the effect his tutelage has had on Murray, since the two first joined up in January, has been nothing short of transformative.

The raw gift that Murray has possessed since childhood has now been allied to the crucial mental strength, and there is no guessing at what rewards that combination could yet produce.